Waterbury evening Democrat., 1887-12-24

had been answered that they mad no in formation of the hanging of any of the

had been answered that they nad no in Iormatlon Of the hanging of any or the party.
 He mad then threatened retaliation III case any more were put to death, and hsid endeavored to effect our exchange; he was very glad indeed that tlicsc efforts had succeeded and surprised us by saving,
 1ou VIII ind yourselves great Ecroes when you get home;'' then added rnGny kind words about the high appreciation of our services by the government, which, coming rom the secretary cf war CT 2 great nation to private soldiers, U-as most hatterlng. Stanton seemed especially pleased with Parrott. He was tic young est or our number and of very quiet and simple manners. Stanton gave him the offer of complete education if he would accept 1t-I understood him to mean at West Point. Parrott answered that while the war lasted he did not wish to go to school, but would rather go back and fight the rebels who had used him so badly. At this Stanton smiled, as if he greatly approved his spirit, and said to him, "If you want friend at any time be sure to apply to me-" Then going into another room he brought out q medal and handed it to Parrott, saying, Congress has by Q recent law ordered medals to be prepared on this model, and your party shall have the first; they will be the first that have been given to private soldiers in this war;" Later all the survivors of the party re- ceived similar medals. Then he gave us present of $100 each from the secret ser- vice fund, and ordered all the money and the value of arms and property taken from us by the rebels to be refunded. Finally he asked us about our wishes and intentions for the future. Finding that we were all resolved to return to active service he offered us commissions as first ieutenants in the regular army. We expressed preference for the volunteer service, saying that we were soldiers only for the war, and would wish to resume our usual pursuits when peace returned. He promised to request Governor Todd, of Ohio, to give us equivalent commis- sions in our own regiments. Then with hearty goodby we left him.
 We had been invited to call upon the president the same day, and Gen. Hitch cock accompanied us on this pleasant mission. My companions had done a lit tie testing about being able now to show me how much I was mistaken in try ing to impose upon them the tall, plain stranger we had met at the Smithsonian institution without any guard, such as the southern papers said always attended him, for the great and good Abraham Lincoln, which I enjoyed as much as they did. A still greater crowd than at the war office was awaiting admission; but as we came by appointment we had the preference and were conducted inn mediately to the private office of the presi- dent. We did feel some little embarrass- ment, but this scarcely accompanied us over the threshold.
 The office was very plainly furnished. There was long table and some chairs, but scarcely anything else. Lincoln met us at the door, greeted us warmly, and told us how much be had been interested in hearing of our adventures and how glad he was that we had at last escaped from the hands of the enemy. We answered as we'll as we could. I remem- Der telling him that we were very glad to see him, though we had been hearing a great many things not complimentary about him for the past year. He smiled, saying: "Indeed, there are a good many people up here that say about as bad things of me-" I also mentioned the reason that the other members of the party would not believe that he was the man we met at the Smithsonian, which caused him to laugh heartily and ask if we really imagined he went everywhere with great guard parading after him, and if the people of the south believed all the stories printed in their papers? While talking he did not keep one position, but shifted from place to place. going from one